Multi-Function Machines Finally Up to the Task
Printers and copiers have become vital even to many of the smallest businesses. You can buy them separately or purchase a multi-function device, or MFD, that can include a scanner and fax machine.
I used to recommend against such devices because they didn’t function as well as stand-alone equipment. But that’s no longer the case. Companies including Hewlett-Packard, Brother and Lexmark now make MFDs that are competent at all of their tasks.
I have been testing two low-cost devices--Hewlett-Packard’s $499 OfficeJet G55xi and Lexmark’s Z82, attractively priced at $199.
Although I liked the HP device better, I have to give Lexmark a lot of credit for coming up with an affordable machine that gets the job done well. Considering the price, the Lexmark is a tempting purchase for anyone needing a light-duty copier, printer and scanner. The HP, which is faster and somewhat more rugged, is a better bet for slightly busier offices. If you want fax capability, HP offers the $799 G85, which comes with an automatic document feeder.
Neither of these machines is designed for heavy use. The HP model has a “duty cycle” of no more than 5,000 printed pages (or copies) a month. Lexmark rates its unit for only 3,000 pages a month. Though that might not satisfy the demands of many businesses, it’s a lot for most home offices and even some small businesses that do a minimal amount of printing and copying.
It could also be suitable for busier offices as an extra copier or printer, perhaps dedicated to one or two people or used only when the heavy-duty machines are busy. I find myself using my personal copier for small jobs and using a copy shop for larger jobs.
These devices use ink-jet cartridges, which, like other ink jets, can cost between 3 and 5 cents a black-and-white page for ink. Color is considerably more expensive.
Both devices can be connected to a PC via either a parallel cable or a USB cable. You need a PC to use them as a printer or scanner but you don’t have to have the PC connected to use either device as a color or black-and-white copier.
As a copier, both machines work like a regular stand-alone flatbed copier. What is cool about both is their ability to handle color as well as black-and-white copies. Both machines have both a “color” and a “black” button. If you use the black button, you get a black-and-white copy even if your original is color.
The Lexmark Z82 makes good color copies, but the color copies from the Hewlett-Packard G55xi are even better. I copied some color photos on HP photo paper and it was almost impossible to distinguish from the original.
Even when I enlarged it to twice its size, it still looked fine and produced a reasonably good-quality copy on plain paper. Both machines allow you to reduce to 25% of the original. The HP enlarges to 200%, and the Lexmark goes up to 400%.
HP rates its copier function at 12 pages per minute in fast mode and Lexmark rates its copier at up to four pages a minute, but you probably won’t get these speeds in real life situations. Typically, people use machines like these to copy one or two pages. In my tests, the HP copied one full 8-by-11 page of text in 12 seconds. The Lexmark copied the same page in 22 seconds.
Both devices can also be used as either a color or black-and-white scanner. They come with software that lets you scan images and optical character recognition software that turns a printed document into standard computer text.
The HP is clearly a better scanner. To begin with, the unit has a scan button, so there is no need to fiddle around with software to make a scan. Just push the button and the machine loads the software for you. The HP also has a higher resolution, which typically gives you better-quality scans.
I don’t use the scanner function that often and, when I do, it’s almost always to scan photos--never to turn printed documents into computer text. I realize that others have different needs, but before you get too excited about a feature, think about whether you’ll really use it that often.
As a printer, the HP is rated at up to 12 pages a minute in black and up to 10 pages a minute in color; the Lexmark is rated at eight pages a minute in black and four in color. These ratings assume you use the “draft” mode.
Both printers are considerably slower when you go into “normal” or “best” mode. In my experience, draft mode is adequate for normal black-and-white printing, but you want to use best mode for color, especially if you are printing a color photo.
Both printers produce great black-and-white pages. I thought the HP did a better job with color photos, but the Lexmark is also good.
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Technology reports by Lawrence J. Magid can be heard at 2:10 p.m. weekdays on the KNX (1070) Technology Hour. He can be reached at larry.magid@latimes.com. His Web site is at https://www.larrysworld.com.
